Toast to the Coast to extend visitors’ time in ENC

Published: Sunday, October 7, 2012 at 02:11 PM.

MOREHEAD CITY — The North Carolina Seafood Festival will debut a new event in the coming week that expands on one of its original missions.

One of the founding goals of the festival was to bring people to Carteret County and boost tourism in the area during the non-summer months. After 26 years of drawing a crowd for festival weekend, organizers are taking that goal a bit further.

The inaugural Toast to the Coast will be held Oct. 8-14 to help keep them here even longer.

Festival Executive Director Stephanie McIntyre said they started the restaurant week as a way to continue the celebration of the seafood industry and to encourage people to extend their time in the area and see what else it has to offer beyond festival week.

“We wanted to start looking at ways to get people to extend their time here,” she said.

During the week, the public can stop by any of the 16 participating restaurants and select a three-course dinner from the Toast of the Coast menu for $25 per person, plus tax and tip. All the restaurants are independently owned and located in Morehead City, Beaufort or Atlantic Beach.

During the week, diners can also get an inside look at restaurants along the Morehead City waterfront with food writer and blogger Liz Biro, who has been covering the North Carolina coast’s food and dining scene for more than a decade.

MOREHEAD CITY — The North Carolina Seafood Festival will debut a new event in the coming week that expands on one of its original missions.

One of the founding goals of the festival was to bring people to Carteret County and boost tourism in the area during the non-summer months. After 26 years of drawing a crowd for festival weekend, organizers are taking that goal a bit further.

The inaugural Toast to the Coast will be held Oct. 8-14 to help keep them here even longer.

Festival Executive Director Stephanie McIntyre said they started the restaurant week as a way to continue the celebration of the seafood industry and to encourage people to extend their time in the area and see what else it has to offer beyond festival week.

“We wanted to start looking at ways to get people to extend their time here,” she said.

During the week, the public can stop by any of the 16 participating restaurants and select a three-course dinner from the Toast of the Coast menu for $25 per person, plus tax and tip. All the restaurants are independently owned and located in Morehead City, Beaufort or Atlantic Beach.

During the week, diners can also get an inside look at restaurants along the Morehead City waterfront with food writer and blogger Liz Biro, who has been covering the North Carolina coast’s food and dining scene for more than a decade.

Biro sees the dining experience as more than just a meal and said her walking food tours are a way to get to know the history behind the restaurants and the people who run them while getting a taste or two of the tastes they have to offer.

“There are so many great stories behind restaurants and these tours are a great way for diners to see more than the plate in front of them,” she said.

Biro has been doing her Culinary Adventures food tours in Wilmington is expanding with tours planned for Swansboro and her first two in Morehead City during the Toast to the Coast restaurant week.

Tours are scheduled for 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Oct. 11 and Oct. 13. The Saturday tour is nearly booked but spaces remain for Thursday.

The cost is $38 per person. Reservations are required and can be made by going to http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/279916. For parents looking for a night out during the restaurant week, drops the kids off Friday night during the Webb Library’s Night Out program for ages 4 and up. The program is form 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. the cost is $5. Pre-registration is required.

For a list of participating restaurants or for more information, see the event website at toasttothecoast.org.